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The UK Government think-tank Commission for Integrated Transport is currently considering a plan to impose a congestion charge on flights. It warns that the number of flights is growing by five per cent annually from the present figure of 162 million a year. Ten years ago, planes caused 3.5 per cent of man-made greenhouse gases in the world. By 2050, this figure is estimated to rise to 15 per cent.

The toll, to be introduced on flights leaving at the most popular times, could double the amount travellers pay in the UK on departure tax, which currently stands at between £5 and £40. The charge is being considered to raise an extra £600 million to offset the damage aircraft is causing to the environment.

Airlines in Britain already pay £800 million to offset the damage they cause. The commission says they should be paying £1.4 billion for congestion charges on mid-morning or early evening flights. UK airlines have dismissed the proposal, saying passengers were already taxed enough. British Airways said: 'The way to relieve congestion is to meet demand and that means extra runways.' Holiday operator Thomas Cook added: 'Passengers are already being taxed enough.'

The pilot’s safety briefing was interrupted by a loud squeal. “Was that a pig? If it makes a mess you’ll have to clear it up when we reach Hagen” he said indignantly to the woman with a large bulge under her coat. The pig squealed repeatedly as we took off but was quiet for the rest of the 45 minute flight – another small incident in travel around Papua New Guinea, the land of the unexpected. The previous flight to Tari had been over 4 hours late: “As the weather was unusually fine, we took the opportunity of using the aircraft to visit poorly-served airstrips before sending it back towards Hagen” the fat controller eventually explained. At Tari we watched the Spirit Dancers, Huli wigmen dressed up in all their finery with head-dresses of Birds-of-paradise feathers and cloaks of Cuscus skins, performing their dance to help overcome problems such as serious illness. Higher up, in the moss-covered forest, a King-of-Saxony Bird-of-paradise performed a similar dance, bouncing up and down on a thin branch, swaying his bizarre elongated head feathers and singing just as tunelessly as the Hulis.

The Central Highlands Highway was now open to regular traffic, thanks to recent patrolling by police vehicles. It had effectively been closed for years by the presence of “rascals” who stopped and robbed any who dared to use it. Now it was possible to drive from Tari to Hagen in 8 hours instead of at least 20 on the safe route. We took part of this when we travelled from Hagen to Lake Kutubu, mainly in the back of a lorry masquerading as a Public Motor Vehicle. The “5 hour” journey took 8 hours and included another pig on board, very well behaved this time. We climbed up and down mountains, mainly through a semi-cultivated landscape, dotted with patches of forest, before dropping down through hills covered with young forest. My backside felt thoroughly tenderised after bouncing up and down on the wooden plank cum seat as we hit numerous potholes. We got off at dusk and had to wait for a boat to take us to Tubo Lodge on an island in the picturesque lake. The jovial local headmaster explained the meaning of time: “I know that if you say you will meet me at 7.00, you will be there at 7.00, not 6.59 or 7.01, but if a Papuan says 7, he will arrive at 9.”

We took a birding trip to the mainland with bare-footed Robert as guide. We had a good time until it started raining in earnest, so we returned to where the canoe had been left. “The others have taken it to the village, we will walk there.” “How long will that take?” “It depends how fast we walk” – we had heard this before. It took an hour, without stopping, as we slithered along the muddy path which looked as though it had not been used for weeks – a wrong assumption as we met four children who were walking to a village some 10 km away where the school was. They would live there during the week and walk home for the weekend. I was happy to accept Robert’s helping hand, such as when we crossed streams on slippery rocks, but my companion stubbornly refused all offers. He fell into one stream, soaking both feet – no, I didn’t say that. In the village, the men played touch-rugby and the children touch-basket ball. The men all lived in a single longhouse, each with their own fire next to their bed, and the women and children in their own family houses.

After returning to the lodge, we proceeded to the other side of the lake to see the bleached skulls and bones of the locals’ ancestors, laid out on a ledge beside a chalk cliff. Their glory had been to be killed by the Japanese in World War II. Later, we ate delicious small crayfish, speared by boys standing precariously at the front of a small wooden canoe. One of the local women had a fever, probably malaria; we gave her some pills to help – the nearest pharmacy was at least 6 hours away. In the early hours I spent a long time in the rain trying to see a very rare bird, Wallace’s Owlet-Nightjar, which called only once or twice every 10 or 15 minutes. He won, I had to leave at 05.30, to go home. The first step was to get the guys out of bed to take me by canoe to the other end of the lake, an hour’s journey in the rain. There was no sign of the vehicle to the airport: “The man allotted to arrange this forgot to do it”, said Penny in a matter of fact way. We walked it in 45 minutes, in time for the 30 minute flight to Hagen, followed by an hour in a jet to Port Moresby, 6 hours to Singapore and 12 hours to Heathrow, where my bag failed to appear, one hour to St Pancras, 3 hours to Sheffield and bus home, only to find there was no-one in and my key was in my bag still in Singapore…

Sally is British and has lived in the UK all her life. International travel as part of her work took her to many countries, including Portugal. She fell in love with the place and decided to sell her beautiful cottage in Malmsbury, Wiltshire, and relocate to Lisbon. In this article, she tells us of getting her first job.

I have started work (about time most of you are probably saying!) this month. I am teaching at a local international school (20 minutes by car) which is great fun. The headmistress has decided that the playground assistants, gardener, porter, cleaners and security staff should all learn English so that they can communicate better with the kids and parents. I have two classes each Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. The age range is between mid twenties to late fifties. Two cannot read or write! I have one Romanian (who doesn’t read or write), and three Ukrainians (one is a qualified engineer working as the gardener, and one is an Economist working as a cleaner). It is great fun and very challenging as I don’t use a text book because I have to verbalise and visualise everything due to the non reading and writing element. On Monday I took them all around the grounds of the school identifying objects – they love “small wheelie bin” and “shed”.

Pronunciation is tricky and the word “fork” does tend to sound like something else! Tomorrow they have asked for phrases to use in the playground i.e. “shut up”, “sit down”, “what have you got there?” etc etc and the cleaners want their cleaning equipment identified. They can now introduce each other, say who they are, where they live and what they live in, whether they are married or single, how many children they have and how many pets – not bad in three weeks.

I have also just had an interview with a language school in Sintra and hope something might come from that and have another one scheduled for Thursday afternoon with a school about 15 minutes from here – so things might be looking up. I am also going to advertise English conversation classes to see what comes from that.

I have joined the IWP – the International Women of Portugal. I though it might be a good way of meeting new people. I duly trotted along to one of their coffee mornings and wondered whether it had been worth bothering. Most of the ladies grabbed a coffee and bun and headed off in groups – not quite what I had been expecting.

One lady did come over and talk and it turned out that her husband worked in the power industry over here, which was a coincidence as it turns out I spoke to him about two years ago when I was headhunting with my friend Cathy! What a small world! Anyway, she invited me over to her house for coffee a few weeks later which was rather nice.

Still not too convinced it’s the right thing to belong to, but I will persevere a bit longer. I have also, via an advert in their magazine, found a brilliant library. It is run by a lady who has converted what were maids quarters at the back of her villa into this gem of a place. There are three sections, large print, hardback and paperback – over 1,000 in total! And it’s all free. She will not take any money for anything. It’s brilliant for getting rid of unwanted paperbacks, tapes, videos etc. She has also got a very good selection of audio tapes. Just listened to second Harry Potter spoken by Stephen Fry which was fabulous and the Alan Bennett “Talking Heads”. I met two very interesting ladies there and have lunch with them at weekends. One of them has lived here for 40 years – she was married to a Portuguese artist and lives in a wonderful old villa with three rescued cats and three dippy dogs. The other lady is fascinating. She used to answer the problem letters in various teenage magazines in the sixties, typed scripts for someone who made blue movies and is quite a character – very strong minded and incredibly opinionated which is a bit difficult at times!

I gave my classes homework for the first time on Wednesday and apart from about two small spelling errors, they got everything right! I am so thrilled. I have also been told by the headmistress that they love the classes – makes me feel quite proud. Our final topic of the day today (25 September) was “what are you doing at the weekend?” We had the usual things like going to the supermarket, sleeping, watching Benfica on TV, celebrating 3^rd wedding anniversary (he got a round of applause) and then with a bit of giggling and translating we had the classic: “On Saturday I am going to the supermarket to do the shopping. I am going to make love on Saturday night”. This got cheers! They really are a great bunch of ladies and gents!

That’s fine. You could also add that I am now working for Big Ben in Cacem teaching three children aged from 6-8 and two adults in their late twenties. The biggest problem with the adults is that they hate the text books they have been given because they are aimed at children. I am trying to devise something of more interest and relevance to them.

Oh and there has been a recount at the library – Jennie reckons there are now over 5,000 books!

If you’d like to contact Sally, she can be reached by e-mail on: pethybs@hotmail.com

Alhabib is from the Tuareg people in Libya and sent us this fascinating insight into the Islamic festival of Ramadan.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. It is during this month that Muslims fast and when Muslims concentrate on their faith. It is a time of worship and contemplation. There are fairly strict rules about how one can live during the month of Ramadan: during the Fast of Ramadan, Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink during daylight hours and smoking and sexual relations are also forbidden during fasting. At the end of each day, the fast is broken with prayer and a meal called the iftar. In the evening following the iftar, it is customary for Muslims to go out visiting family and friends and the fast is resumed the next morning

As the holy time of Ramadan approaches, everyone is very happy and starts to prepare for it. The women in the home usually prepare special meals for the month of Ramadan. Everyone is happy and anticipating the coming of this holy month. Ramadan begins after watching the crescent shaped moon at midnight or even later. During this period, Muslims start their day before early dawn and eat a meal, called the Sahour. This is sufficient for fasting for the day. After that, they begin the worship and call to God for forgiveness. All Muslims must fast between the hours of dawn and dusk.

Before sunset the women prepare delicious savoury food. At sunset , when the call to prayer to Al Magreb is made, all the family gather round the feast to eat. They begin with some dates and some milk (this is the sunna of the prophet Mohamed ) and then begin the Magreb prayer. After praying they return to eat and drink. There is lots of visiting going on and much time is spent with friends and all houses are open to receive any guest from anywhere.

After eating the Iftar (breakfast), much worship and prayers take place during the month, and at night, when the call to prayer for the evening Aisha begins, people go to the mosques to pray evening prayers. They pray the Al Traweh prayer and this continues every night. On the 27^th night, the Greater Night (Alila Alkabira ) which is called (Night of Al Gadr), the holy Koran begins to descend from heaven to prophet Mohamed. On this night people recite the Koran all the night until dawn so as to be close to God.

After the end of the holy month of Ramadan, the holy Bairam comes. In the Morning of the first day of the lesser Bairam, the people get out to the Plazas to pray the Feast prayer. It is two bows: after praying, each person begins to greet each other (Alsalam) happily and to wish him a merry feast. After the Feast after the holy month, the lesser Bairam continues for three days, all of it to visit friends and family and everyone is happy.

If you would like to contact Alhabib about Ramaddan or Libya, he can be reached by e-mail on: tenerecotour@yahoo.com